Occupational roles organize behavior by contributing to one's personal identity, conveying social expectations for performance, organizing use of time, and providing the individual a place in the social structure. Occupational Therapy's unique view of disability involves understanding how illness or injury effects occupational role performance. The purpose of this descriptive study was to compare the occupational role profile as generated by the Role Checklist of patients versus normals. The Role Checklist was administered to 292 patients with various physical and psychosocial dysfunctions. The data was then compared to pre-existing Role Checklist data collected on 1020 normals. Data analysis revealed a significant difference between patients and normals in all present occupational roles. The results suggest that occupational roles are significantly effected by disability whether physical or psychosocial in nature and underscore the need for occupational therapists to address this area.